


In My Mother's House

by AdmirableMonster (Mertiya)



Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Old Married Couple, Treat Fic, old lady maiar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:02:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27177583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mertiya/pseuds/AdmirableMonster
Summary: Elanor Gamgee, who is very definitely not lost, stumbles on a cottage while she is picking flowers outside of Rivendell, and the occupants are happy to have her for dinner.
Relationships: Nienna/Yavanna Kementári
Comments: 6
Kudos: 17
Collections: Innumerable Stars 2020





	In My Mother's House

**Author's Note:**

  * For [2Nienna2](https://archiveofourown.org/users/2Nienna2/gifts).



> title from the song of the same name by Cosy Sheridan

Elanor Gamgee was not lost.She knew exactly how to get back to Rivendell and could back any time she chose.She just hadn’t chosen yet, because she wanted to pick more flowers.And she certainly wasn’t going to cry.Her dad was a hero, and she was sure he’d never cry about anything like being slightly turned around and not wanting to go back just yet.

Her feet were starting to hurt when she came upon a little, barely-visible overgrown path.A path meant there would be people at the end of it, and she might not want to go back to Rivendell just yet, but she thought she might like to see some people, so she followed it determinedly.It wound up the side of the mountain, and she was further encouraged by the sight of a long splash of lilies-of-the-valley at the side of the path.She loved lilies-of-the-valley, so she plucked a few to add to the wilting bundle of flowers in her arms and continued onward.

At the top of the path, there was a little cottage, covered all over with flowering and fruiting vines and surrounded by a sparkling little stream.In the front, surrounded by tall, strong sunflowers, was a kneeling, gray-haired figure with flowers threaded through her hair.She looked up as Elanor approached, to show an ancient, lined face that broke into a smile as she saw the faunt.

“A visitor!” she exclaimed.“How lovely!”

“Hello,” Elanor said, hurrying up the path incautiously.“I am Elanor Gamgee.”

“You may call me Blossom.Have you traveled far, little one?”

“I came from Rivendell, but I haven’t gone back yet,” Elanor said, awkwardly.

“Haven’t you?You look tired.Perhaps you would like to come in and have a good meal before going back?”

Elanor brightened at the thought.“Yes, please!” she said enthusiastically.“I’m very hungry!”

The woman laughed, getting to her feet and shaking out her green skirts.“I hear that is not unusual for Hobbits,” she said.“Come along, then.”

Elanor followed her up an old cobble pathway.Little dandelions poked out between the stones, and more seemed to be popping up behind Blossom’s feet.Elanor wondered if that meant she was a fairy.Oh, her dad would be jealous if she had met a real _fairy_!That was even more exciting than Elves, which the whole family was quite used to at this point.

“Afton, my dear, we have a visitor!” Blossom called as she opened the door.A stooped old woman leaning on a cane hobbled out.She had lovely long silver hair flowing down beneath a grey hood.As she came near, Blossom reached out and caught her, pulling her close and kissing the top of her head.Then she gestured for Elanor to come in.“This is Elanor Gamgee, who will be eating supper with us.”

“Hello, Elanor,” said Afton softly.She seemed more solemn than Blossom, but she did smile a little, and she tangled her hand in Blossom’s hair.“Please come in.”

They brought her into a low room that smelled very like her mother’s kitchen, all baking bread and fresh-cut flowers, and sat her at a little wooden table covered in delicious-looking food.Blossom sat on her left and Afton on her right.“Tonight’s dinner was to be fruit and mushrooms,” Blossom said.“Will that be all right for you?There is bread and jam as well.”

“Mushrooms!” exclaimed Elanor happily.“Yes, please, that sounds lovely!Is there any milk?”

“Yes, I’ll get you a glass,” Blossom told her.“Sit down and eat your fill, little one.”

“Thank you very much,” Elanor said.A plate was set in front of her, and she understood she was to help herself, so she did so, trying not to be too greedy.

There was a soft sob at her right elbow, and she looked over to see that Afton was crying quietly, huddled in her grey robe.Elanor put down her fork again.“Are you all right?” she asked.

The old woman gave her a small smile.“Do not be concerned for me, child,” she told her and patted Elanor’s hand.

Blossom came over and put a glass of milk in front of Elanor, then embraced Afton, rubbing a hand gently through her hair.“She is mourning over the injuries of Middle Earth,” she said, calmly.“It takes her like this, often.”

“Oh, like my dad.”Elanor nodded.“Sometimes he just cries over things like that.Big things.Not little things like being lost.He’s a hero, you know.”

She thought Blossom made a kind of choked noise at that, but she wasn’t sure why, and the next moment she thought she might have imagined it, because Blossom put a hand in Elanor’s hair and stroked it carefully.“Just exactly like that,” she agreed.

Elanor nodded again and applied herself to the food.“I think it’s better sometimes,” she offered.“But sometimes it gets worse again?”

“That’s right.”Afton brushed tears from her eyes and nodded.“Sorrow is something we all learn to live with.It’s all right to be sad sometimes.”

“Yes,” agreed Blossom, and she kissed the top of Afton’s head again, then interlaced their fingers and kissed the top of the other woman’s knuckles as well.They were so pretty together, Elanor thought admiringly.

She ate her way through three more plates of mushrooms, five peaches and one fruit she didn’t recognize—but that was very delicious—and then she found she was yawning into her glass of milk.

“Would you like to sleep for a little while, my dear?” asked Blossom.

“Yes, please,” mumbled Elanor, and then she was being picked up in two pairs of arms and carried off to be laid in a soft bed that smelled of roses and lilies-of-the-valley.She was asleep almost before her head hit the pillow.

When she woke up, she was in her own little bed in Rivendell, with sunlight streaming in from the little upper window.She yawned and sat up.“Dad!” she called.“Mum, Dad, you’ll never believe the dream I had!”

As she jumped out of bed, she nearly stumbled into her dressing table and stopped, stunned.In a china vase by the bed were the bunches of flowers she had picked yesterday and, tucked between them, a tall sunflower and bunches of lilies-of-the-valley.


End file.
